Chapter Eight
Kenzi walked into the crack shack, throwing her suitcase onto the floor. The place was as clean as she'd seen in for a long time; she guessed that without her around there was nobody to leave their dirty clothes or pizza crusts lying around.
"Honey, I'm home . . ." she shouted. "Get yo' leather clad ass out here."
She squealed as Bo ran out of her room and almost knocked her over with the force of her hug. "Whoa, you're really happy to see me, I should go away more often." She gasped for air – Bo still hadn't got a handle on knowing her own strength yet. She patted Bo's back half-heartedly. "Seriously babes, I'm happy to see you too, but release me."
"I'm so glad you're back," Bo said, finally letting her go.
"Bo, what's wrong?" Kenzi asked when she saw the look on Bo's face. She looked like a woman who'd crawled out of the desert and just found water. Something was most definitely up - they might be close and all but this definitely wasn't about missing her. Judging by the look on Bo's face there had been a heart breakage of some kind.
"Tell me about your trip, let me live vicariously through you," Bo said, ignoring the question.
"We can talk about my time as a travelling groupie later. Sit down and tell me what's wrong."
Kenzi sat and listened to the whole story, which took a considerable about of time because first there was Bo's difficulty with getting her words out and then there was some crying. And then there was a lot of time during which Kenzi could not understand what on earth had happened because it was so crazy.
"Okay, so if this happened a couple of weeks ago then I'm guessing you've already done some investigating without me, right? And the reason you didn't tell me any of this over the phone? I should have known what was up, I thought you sounded spookily drama-free," Kenzi said sarcastically. In fact, she'd been a little miffed at how much Bo seemed to be avoiding her calls.
"I knew you'd probably come back early if I did, and I wasn't about to be that selfish. And of course I have. I went to see Trick and I went to see The Ash as well. Who believe me, was pissed off that I was getting involved. There's some other stuff he wants me to be paying attention to right now," Bo said.
"So is there anything you can do?"
Bo nodded anxiously, frowning. "Okay, so basically they told me it's reversible and that I had to talk to this Ma-sem-aney thing to find out how. I went to see The Handmaidens and they said that only the person who consented to the wipe can ask for it to be changed back. And it must be of her own free will."
"So we go find Lauren and you tell her what's happened. What's the problem?"
Bo lightly slapped Kenzi on the back of the head, as affectionately as one can give a slap. "Because. Think about it. Remember about how you reacted when you first saw me suck the life out of that guy in the elevator? Lauren's like a regular human again. She's not going to believe me if I just walk up to her and say hey, you've had your memory wiped by a mythological creature, wanna have it back? She doesn't know who I am. She'd just write me off as crazy."
"Oooooh," Kenzi said.
"Yeah. Typical fae bullshit. They've built in this stupid reverse clause that nobody can ever solve, just to show how clever they are," Bo said, resting her fist on the side of her head.
"Can't you succubus her into asking for it or something?"
"Ha. Don't think I didn't consider it, but I think it's a little beyond me. I might be able to get our pizza for free but somehow I think the Handmaidens would be a little more complicated to get around. Free will remember?"
"So you gain her trust, talk her into it somehow?"
Bo shrugged. "See above re: looking like a crazy person. I can't just go to her house and introduce myself. I don't know where she works now. And believe me I called every hospital and medical practice in town looking for a Dr Lewis, but nothing. And Dyson has been no help, I asked for him to use his resources and he refused and told me to move on. By the time I pulled my shit together enough to go to her house and try to follow her, I never saw her once. I followed Nadia a couple of times but it didn't lead me to her. It's eating me up Kenz – she was counting on me. She asked me to help her. What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Are you sure about all of this Bo? If she agreed to it in the first place maybe she just got the jitters at the end, got scared or whatever. Cold feet. Maybe if she wanted to get lost to the fae world you should just let her stay lost," Kenzi said as gently as she knew how.
Bo was staring at the carpet. She'd heard variations of that question from Trick and Dyson too. When she looked back at Kenzi there were tears in her eyes. "I get what you're saying but it's not true. You should've seen her Kenzi, she didn't want this. She was terrified. This isn't just about me wanting to be with her, I want to help her."
"Okay Bo-Bo. We'll work this out," Kenzi said, putting her arms around Bo.
Bo grew even more despondent over the next few weeks; she felt like all she was doing was walking around the city searching every face. She'd tried any contacts she'd made in the fae world but naturally none of them were very interested in helping her find a human, especially when there was nothing in it for them. It had been a month since that night and her sense of urgency hadn't dwindled one bit. She didn't know how she could live with herself if she just let it go. She kept telling herself that the answer would turn up eventually but she was beginning to lose hope.
And then one morning, lightning struck.
She and Kenzi had been sitting in a diner eating breakfast after pulling an all nighter for a case they'd been working on. Kenzi had been trying to get her to take more of an interest in the business, hoping that it would be a good distraction.
"I don't know where you put all that shit, seriously, you've got hollow legs," Bo teased Kenzi, who was tucking into her second cheeseburger.
"I'm hungry for these burgers like you're hungry for having sex with anything that's not a hole in the ground or a wooden pole, so just let me enjoy it," Kenzi retorted.
They both jumped when they realized they were being eavesdropped on by someone in the next booth, who had apparently spat out a mouthful of coffee when they began laughing. The way the booths were positioned meant the person was sitting back to back with Bo, and Kenzi could see the back of her head.
Kenzi raised her voice sarcastically. "Oh I know we're hilarious, would you like me to talk louder so you can enjoy our humorous banter a little more easily?"
"I'm sorry," she said over her shoulder. "You're quite the double act."
Bo's eyes had widened as she heard the sound of the voice, and Kenzi froze at the sight of her profile. "Glad . . . you enjoyed it," Kenzi said stiltingly. Bo was staring at her with a dazed expression and Kenzi started kicking her under the table.
"It's her," Kenzi whispered, as if Bo could have somehow missed it.
With a dry mouth, Bo turned around and laid her arm on the back of the booth. "Hey," she said breathlessly. And when the woman turned around, it was Lauren. Bo stared at her face for a moment, flooded with adrenaline. She thought she was going to cry for a moment. She'd missed that face so much – her hooded brown eyes, that dimple in her chin, the faintly amused little smile. Lauren had her eyebrows raised and Bo didn't miss the slightly appraising once-over Lauren was giving her.
"Hi," Lauren said.
"How are you?" Bo said nervously, inwardly kicking herself. Now that she was staring her right in the face - now that she had her big chance - she had no idea what to say. It was the strangest feeling. Lauren was looking at her in the way you looked at someone you'd just met, something that she never would have been able to put her finger on if she wasn't looking right at it. Against all reason she kept waiting for a flicker of recognition to come into Lauren's eyes, but it never did.
"I'm well, thank you. I'll let you ladies get back to your meal," Lauren said, nodding towards Kenzi. She looked slightly puzzled by Bo's intensity but maybe she'd written her off as a weirdo or as drunk. She turned back to her table and Bo heard the rustling of a newspaper. Long seconds went by and she heard Lauren thank the waitress for the refill on her coffee.
Kenzi was motioning madly towards the table. "What are you frickin doing, go and talk to her," she whispered.
They were huddled over the table leaning in towards one another. "Can't you steal her wallet or something? It might help us find something out, maybe a work ID or whatever?"
Kenzi narrowed her eyes, considering it. "Maybe. But go talk to her first."
With her heart thudding in her chest, Bo got up and walked around the booth, sliding into the seat across from Lauren. Lauren looked up at her in surprise and Bo watched as her hand froze, holding her cup of coffee in mid-air.
"Hi, I'm Bo," she said, gazing at Lauren and then trying to pull back on the desperation. She didn't want to scare her off. Should she reach across the table and touch her hand? She quickly decided against it. It was wrong to use her powers; and she didn't want to give The Handmaidens any reason to deny them if she ever worked all of this out.
"Lauren," she said, smiling a little. Bo's eyes flicked to the side as she saw movement and she tried to keep her eyes focussed on Lauren's face. Kenzi's hand had reached over and was clearly aimed at Lauren's purse.
"So, what do you do with yourself, Lauren?" Bo said, leaning forward. You have more than enough charms, all on your own.
"Listen, I'm sorry, but I should really get to work," Lauren said, not unkindly.
"Wait!" Bo said, overcome with panic. Kenzi had taken something and was slipping the purse back into Lauren's bag. She didn't know how successful Kenzi had been, and didn't want to count on it. "I mean – I'm sorry to keep you. But I was wondering if I could take you out to dinner or something?" she asked.
"I'm flattered," Bo watched with pleasure as Lauren's eyes flicked over her meaningfully. "I mean, very flattered. But I'm not dating right now."
"Oh, are you taken?" Bo said. Of course she already knew the answer, but it was the only way she could think of to stall her. To her great shock, Lauren shook her head.
"Nope, I'm not," she hesitated as though unsure of how much to share with a stranger. "I got out of a long-term relationship recently, that's all."
Bo's heart was doing cartwheels. So she'd broken up with Nadia! "That's a shame. You sure I can't convince you?"
Lauren smiled at her and shook her head. Bo jumped out of her seat. "Please just wait here one second." She ran over to a waitress and begged for a pen and a piece of paper from her notepad. She returned to sit across from Lauren, who was eyeing her with amusement. "If you change your mind, or if you just want a friend, call me," Bo said eagerly as she scrawled down her number.
"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind. I'll see you round, Bo," Lauren said. They held eye contact for a few moments. Bo flushed with pleasure to see that Lauren was definitely, definitely interested even if she were holding back. Her energy told the story – but then Lauren turned to go. Bo sank back against the seat of the booth. She jumped as Kenzi tapped her on the shoulder.
"Gots us an ID. Her home address is different right? She must have moved," Kenzi said.
"Well if she and Nadia broke up, that explains that," Bo mused, then quickly rose from her seat. "Shit, what are we doing, let's follow her to work."
They followed along far behind Lauren, Bo anxiously watching the blond head of hair ahead of them and determined to not lose her.
"God I felt like such an idiot back there, I didn't know what to say," Bo said distractedly, biting her thumb nail.
"Um yeah, you know I love you Bo but for a sex monster you need to work on your come-on techniques," Kenzi said.
Bo bumped Kenzi with her shoulder. "Shut up, I just froze that's all . . . was I really that bad?"
"You came across kind of psycho desperate. I don't think she's going to be calling you."
"I am kind of psycho desperate. Hey look, that must be her work," Bo said excitedly as Lauren walked into a medical practice. "I don't get it, I'm sure I called this one. I don't see how I could have missed it."
"Did you call a few weeks ago? Maybe she just started here?" Kenzi shrugged. "Oh well, are you going to get in there and play doctors with her? Tell her you need a really thorough breast exam."
Bo had started pacing back and forth. She felt a little more relaxed now that they had an address and a workplace for her. She felt better now that she'd simply laid eyes on her, and knew that Lauren was still occupying the same corner of the world as she was. Before now she had been beginning to feel like her search had all the usefulness of looking for a needle in a haystack.
All of this time she'd fantasised that she when she saw Lauren she'd befriend her, then find a way to gain her trust and then talk her around. She had never been the most details oriented person, and that struck her painfully now. It was now obvious that she'd skipped quite a few important steps in her mind. It made it easier that Nadia wasn't in the picture; but Lauren wasn't the type to just start hanging out with a stranger. She was cautious, reserved. Bo hadn't factored that fact into her plans enough.
"What? I can't just go in there and meet her as a patient. She'll think I'm stalking her. Plus professional boundaries, I'll never get to her that way," Bo said.
Kenzi scoffed. "Are you kidding me? That's how you met her last time! She had no problem working her way into your pants while she was supposed to being professional back then."
"Hey!" Bo frowned at her. "That was different. You know I was never her patient in the old-fashioned sense, she wasn't even supposed to be helping me." She paced back and forth a little more. Have a plan, try to think like Lauren. "I need to get a job there, it's the only way."
"Sounds easy. Maybe you can dress up like a sexy nurse and sneak in," Kenzi said sarcastically, but Bo ignored her.
"Do me a favor, go home and start falsifying a resume for me. Put lots of medical reception work in there. I'm going to hang around and watch the place. By the end of the day, someone's going to quit their job," she announced.